Shameless... Just Shameless I say!

So why the shameless tittle? Because this is all about me. But not necessarily in the spirit of the "it's all about me" of Toby Keith fame. I am going to focus on a point of success in a photographers trek.

There are many forms of credit or accolades that can be discussed such as contest awards, positions of importance, top ratings by organizations and manufacturers, and that of being published.

Last summer I was in Columbus OH working on a project had an opportunity to photograph a friends aircraft from the side of the runway while he was taking off. fast forward to October and he sent me an e-mail asking permission to give the image to an organization for their 2010 calendar. Fast further forward to just before Christmas, Mike sent me a present. This is what I opened.

On the cover was a post-it saying "March will be a very good month." The Avid Flyer is a very popular home built recreational aircraft and has quite a following. Knowing that photos are sent to organizations to be put in calendars all the time and of the hundreds or thousands of images, ultimately only 12 are going to make it to print. Knowing this I shamelessly (tittle, remember) flipped to March 2010 and there it was.

This was the shot I took last summer of Mike and our other project buddy Barrett while on takeoff. I was shooting with a Canon 40D and a EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS USM lens with a 1.4 teleconverter mounted. Effective focal length was 448 mm. Anyhow it looked really cool in print. Here was the extra credit (pardon to pun).

So what is the big deal you ask. Probably not that much but in a world as competitive as we exist, to be in print is an acknowledgement of ones capability. That others find your art/work worthy of publishing in print is in and of itself very rewarding. Many people will say the moment you put an image on the internet, you are published. I have never bought into this position as there is no vetting process prior to the publication.

So as big or as little as you would like to make it, I can say I am published for what ever that is worth. Everyday brings new challenges and new possibilities to learn and gain a better understanding, skill, and expertise at what we do. The Professional Photographers of Michigan have in the ethics statement the following.

"I will at all times endeavor to produce photographs of a quality equal or superior to the samples I display..." Sample are those images that are our best work... Yesterday. I think we should endeavor to produce a better image every time we click the shutter.

So if you are still with me, you know why I titled this blog the way I did.

Thanks for sticking around... Doug